Did budget let down Jeremiah Oliver?

Friday

Jan 24, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By Clive McFarlane TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Staggering under the criticism of letting one of its charges, 5-year-old Jeremiah Oliver, fall between the cracks, the Department of Children and Families, according to some children's advocates, sustained another blow in Gov. Deval Patrick's proposed 2015 budget.

Pointing to Mass Budget & Policy Center data, children's advocates noted that adjusting for inflation, the state budgeted approximately $336 million for children and family services in fiscal 2009, while the 2015 budget provides $310 million for comparable services.

Erin Bradley, executive director of the Children's League of Massachusetts, was blunt in her assessment.

"We have a choice: Continue to ignore the needs of our most vulnerable kids until we suffer the shock of another missing or murdered child, or begin investing now in a system that will ensure their safety," she said.

Ms. Bradley might not make many friends among those who support significant cutbacks in government spending. Yet, if not mitigated by private or other community actions, these cuts can carry harsh consequences.

Indeed, given Jeremiah's case, it is appropriate to ask whether the 19 percent reduction in DCF spending, since across the board cuts were implemented in 2008, seriously impaired the state's ability to protect children.

The federal government's Child Maltreatment 2012 Report, for example, indicates several trends in the state since 2008 that perhaps merit a close look by investigators.

The number of child protective services responses to allegations of maltreatment in the state has declined since 2008, falling from 72,194 that year to 62,257 in 2012. During the same period, the number of child victims, any "child for whom the state determined at least one maltreatment was substantiated or indicated," dropped from 36,772 to 19,234.

Are these declines a result of smarter, more effective intervention efforts, or do they reflect a blind eye being turned toward some children in need of services?

These are important questions, especially in light of the impending move to family resource centers throughout the commonwealth as the frontline purveyors of faster intervention and more directed services for children and families.

Part of a major reform of DCF services, a major goal of these family resource centers is to keep families together, rather than continuing the negative fallout of past practices in which 75 to 80 percent of parents and guardians seeking help through the courts, lose custody of their children.

The state currently runs 11 family resource centers, which primarily provide parental education, child programs and other support services. But to be successful, family resource centers need to be more than just "community centers," according to Ms. Bradley.

"These centers will require staffing and resources to provide screening, referrals, supervision, training and other services to families," she said.

As part of the DCF reform, 14 such comprehensive family resource centers are supposed to come on line in November. The problem is that the governor has only allocated $7.2 million in the 2015 budget to fund both the current centers and the more comprehensive programs that are supposed to be implemented in November. Ms. Bradley believes a funding level of $10 million to $12 million would be more adequate.

I agree. These centers are too important to be shortchanged, and hopefully the state House and Senate versions of the 2015 budget will make things right.